Would You Want To Remember Every Single Thing That Happened In Your Life?

Did anybody watch House M.D. this week? If it's still sitting on your DVR, don't worry--this is a spoiler-free zone. But what I can tell you is that House had a patient that was especially unique--she could remember every detail of everything that had ever happened to her in her life. Ever.

Can you imagine what life would be like if you could remember absolutely everything? House's patient could recount every detail of every day, and even list how many times she'd fallen down in a given year. This is a real condition, called hyperthymesia, which is super-rare--less than a dozen confirmed cases. You can ask people with hyperthymesia what happened on a specific date and they'll be able to tell you trivial details of that day, like the weather, what they had for breakfast, what letters arrived in the mail. It's still a bit of a mystery to doctors and scientists.

I'm pretty sure I wouldn't want to remember everything. For one--absolute overload. I don't need to remember where I put my Strawberry Shortcake eraser on March 3 when I was in third grade or whatever. Also, painful memories would be all too present, all the time--they'd never really fade, no? How could you ever truly heal? You'd be like a big, raw nerve at all times.

That's not to say I wouldn't like a bit of a tune-up on my current memory capacities, though!

PS: House's patient's super-memory may or may not actually be because of hyperthymesia (mystery!).

Would you want to remember every detail in your life--or at least remember more of them? (And, related: Do you you like learning about medical mysteries on shows like House M.D.? I think I was a doctor in another life--I love this stuff!)